


For it to be for love

by RobinWritesChirps



Series: Starkid Quarantine [5]
Category: Firebringer - Team StarKid, The Trail to Oregon! - Team Starkid, Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier - Holmes/McMahon/Lang & Lang & Gale
Genre: Cool Aunts Jazzalil, Crossover Pairings, Dating, Engagement, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Marriage Proposal, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26498533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobinWritesChirps/pseuds/RobinWritesChirps
Summary: After several years of dating her sweet and audacious Princess, Daughter finally decides on popping the big question any time soon − but she needs help from as many trusted adults as she can gather. Includes the guidance of aunties Jemilla and Zazz, of her parents and of dear Ja’far and Sherrezade.This fic was brought to you by the 2020 pandemic, Nintendo and Bethesda.
Relationships: Ja'far/Sherrezade (Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier), Jack Bauer Dikrats/Slippery When Wet Dikrats, Jemilla/Zazzalil (Firebringer), Mouthface Dikrats/Princess (Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier)
Series: Starkid Quarantine [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695739
Comments: 25
Kudos: 19





	For it to be for love

**Author's Note:**

> This fic uses the names mentioned by Son in "Gone to Oregon": Richie, Johnny, Emily, Peter and Sue, respectively Grandpa, Father, Daughter, Son and Mother. This way, these characters fit much better within crossover stories with other characters with normal names. Although Princess is always called Princess within the show, I’m using the name Jasmine for the same reason. 
> 
> Also, this is a 2020 modern AU. Mentions of the pandemic, though not at all the theme of the story, just the setting of it.

"Babe, I've redone the bedroom!"

Emily popped her head through the kitchen’s archway. Jasmine was lounging on their old battered couch. She had been lying there for so long that one of the cats was napping in the hollow of her back. He yawned, as if bored of his owner’s lethargic play.

"Mmh?"

Jasmine brandished the Switch to show off its little screen, though from the distance all Emily could see was a blob of green and blue. She had been busy prepping her lunches for the rest of the week while Jasmine played, making sparse conversation from across their apartment, but Jasmine’s excitement was ever contagious and she left alone her miserable sandwiches to come and check the object of such good cheer.

"Look, I’ve just completed this set, isn’t it so cute?"

Five days a week, Emily worked long hours at the warehouse to earn her wages at the sweat of her temple. As a reward, every evening she was met with Jasmine’s never ending arrangements for their island on this little game she had been obsessed with since March. Every day, she came up with something new and adorable and surprised Emily with it, trying to follow what she thought was Emily’s taste. Mostly she fell short, but Emily was so touched with the attempt it might as well have been a treasure chest all over this little virtual house that was theirs.

"That’s so nice," she said, smiling. "I love it."

If she left the sandwiches out for too long, Fluffles would get to them before she had a chance to, but just for this moment, she took a small break to sit here with her increasingly more thrilled girlfriend showing off every new piece of furniture she had traded, how she had matched them together for the perfect home. Everything that moved Jasmine’s heart, surely, could be nothing short of wonderful, even though she was easy to entertain.

"Couldn’t you just live there?" Jasmine rambled, as happy as ever. Her smile was the only pretty thing in the world. "Just… no work, only fruit trees, living in nature, being happy forever catching bugs and…

"Honey, you hate bugs," Emily said, teasing a little.

Jasmine nudged her for revenge and they laughed together.

"So does Blathers, so that makes two of us." She was sitting half on Emily’s lap, half on the couch, poor Selim now rehomed to under the coffee table, almost glaring at her for having interrupted his slumber when she sat up. "Besides, you’ll always be there to catch them for me."

Emily kissed her and Jasmine, though surprised, repaid the favor and combed fingers through Emily’s hair to keep her close. She loved the smile of hers whenever they parted from a kiss, that awe in her eyes even after they had been together for seven years and counting, even though they knew each other by heart and by soul. Like Emily was a mystery she hoped never, ever to decrypt. She had never felt like she was special at all until Jasmine had started to see her like an ancient miracle, something to admire from up close and study and perhaps even worship. It was unearned, the poor daughter of a handyman with no reputable name, who had had no education beyond high school and knew little of how the world worked. It made sense, perhaps, only because it was reciprocated. When she knew the depth of her own feelings for Jas, then, she could suffer the idea that her girlfriend might feel the same in return even if she felt unworthy of it. Perhaps all the days of her life she would feel this as a blessing.

"Always," she promised and kissed her again.

Their first kiss had been when they were sixteen, still foolish children with a big crush that begged to be unleashed. They were twenty-three now, foolish adults more in love every day. They had seen each other grow up and though the road ahead was still very long, Emily had the innate certitude that they would share it together. And if she was certain of it, then what was stopping them from taking yet another next step? First kiss, first time, moving in together were but the first few levels of the game and she meant to play it till the end. Jasmine parted the kiss abruptly.

"Okay," she said, looking very serious, "so does this count for other games too, because I died thirty-six times at Vah Naboris today so I think you’ll just have to do it for me, I’m losing my mind over here."

Emily chuckled, but pulled Jasmine to her lap entirely so that she was straddling her. She kissed her and, grabbing the Switch from her hands, set it aside.

"Alright," she said. "I’ll do it _later_."

Fridays were the one day Jasmine spent with her parents, and no matter her protestations that she was too old to spend one day with them every single week, she still kept going back every Friday, a clockwork that still hadn’t ran out of juice. When she had the day off, Emily would often go with her but she declined the offer that week, naming some urging housework she wanted to get done instead. She got along with Ja’far and Sherrezade famously well, for she adored how intelligent and compassionate they were, and it wasn’t for no good excuse she was skipping the visit. She had another one to pay and this one had better stay out of Jasmine’s knowledge entirely.

"Hi," Zazzalil beamed as she opened the door after several rings of the doorbell. Her hair was down and the curls cascaded messily over her shoulders. She was in her pajamas, but the top was inside out. "We weren’t just having sex."

" _Zazz, for fuck’s sake._ Hey, sweetie, come on in."

A hand appeared from behind to gag her as Jemilla opened the door wider for Emily to pass through at a safe distance. Last year, they might have hugged, but there was an ounce of good judgment in this house and it was for the most part contained strictly within Jemilla.

"Sorry," Emily said, "Sorry, I should have checked it was okay to come and…"

"Oh, don’t worry about it," Zazzalil replied, dismissing the remark with a wave of her hand. She was still grinning, which reassured her a little. "You’re always welcome, you know that."

She gestured her towards the living room where Emily crashed into her favorite armchair. Forever ago, or at least a couple of years, she had lived here for as long as it had taken for Jasmine to get her bachelor’s degree. Just enough independence to do their own laundry and have a room of their own together, but not enough to launch themselves into the big adult world out there yet. Rooming at Auntie Zazz and Aunt J-Mills had seemed like a natural course of life and though they had moved out into their own place two years ago, the bond between them had remained very tight. The dog too had not yet forgotten her and she had barely sat down that Chip climbed on her lap. No longer a puppy, he was far too big for this armchair but Emily wrapped her arms around him to keep him steady there. She loved dogs, Jasmine loved cats. Naturally, they had compromised and they had two cats.

At a safe six feet across the coffee table, Jemilla put out some lemonade and snacks which Zazzalil immediately began to shove down her mouth despite the disapproving glare. Zazz offered her half of her cookie and the impolite slight was forgotten.

"So what’s up?" Zazzalil asked.

The two wives sat together on the couch, Jemilla’s arm loosely wrapped over Zazzalil’s shoulders. From the moment Emily had met them, they had always inspired such a sense of awe within her that she wasn’t sure would ever shed off. After painful years of hiding herself, meeting them had cast a different light on who she was as a person, suddenly making her bisexuality a source of pride rather than shame. She doubted the two women even remembered the occasion. They had just been another pair of guests at some casual party thrown by Jasmine’s parents and Emily had still been in her early teens, but she would never forget the instant trust, the familiarity between them, like a fellow countryman in a foreign land. The knowledge that two women could be together forever, even when they loved men too, that they could choose to spend their lives with another woman.

"I… eh… You know, pandemic and work and…"

She had never been good at making small talk and winced at herself, even as Zazzalil and Jemilla gave her pleasant smiles to encourage her. They had no children of their own, both of them preferring the safer role of a cool aunt, a role which they filled flawlessly. All these years they had known each other, she had always known she could turn to them for anything. There was no reason they could not guide her now.

"Okay, so this is… silly…"

Jemilla sipped some lemonade. She had a natural elegance which clashed so delightfully with her wife all rough around the edges.

"I’m sure it’s not," she said kindly.

Struck by anxiety, Emily grabbed a couple of cookies she chewed and wolfed down too quick in one painful swallow. She rinsed them down with lemonade and the complex and unsettling flavor blend of too many different spices let her know that it was Zazzalil, surely, who had played alchemist again.

"Erm, so..." Jemilla was cocking an eyebrow inquisitively and Zazzalil leaned her elbows on her knees to better listen. "How did you two get engaged?”

Of course, they exchanged a knowing look between them and Emily felt the embarrassment burning up her cheeks. It was obvious, wasn't it? At the very least, she had always thought that she and Jasmine were simply bond to stay together forever and ever, two nearly identical pieces of a puzzle with the tightest fit. All teenagers in love likely thought the same of their flame, but the years piled on and this one never wavered.

"Well," Jemilla said. She seemed to have won the silent battle of picking who would tell the tale. "Our anniversary was coming up so I planned out a trip back to Zazzy’s hometown where we met. I booked the nicest hotel with a view over the city, a fancy restaurant she’d always wanted to try, we had all sorts of fun activities planned for the whole week and I wanted to ask her the first night in our room…"

"Oh, that’s so nice!" Emily said, already dreading that whatever she came up with would be vastly inferior to this. "So then…"

But Jemilla wasn’t finished and she grinned at the woman at her side.

"Then a few days before we left, I was packing our things while this brat was lazying it up on our bed watching me work," she said with immense fondness, "And she said…"

She nodded at Zazzalil to finish.

"Hey, babe, what if we got married when we come back?"

They burst into dumb giggles and shared a quick kiss at the memory. She loved them for this, a perfect picture of two women who adored each other and who had made it. Happy and settled and even married, they were everything she longed to be. She was but a short step away from it, but that step seemed insurmountable when she had to actually ask Jasmine to thread it. She hugged the dog close and tried to think of this anecdote as reassurance.

"You never know what’s gonna happen to mess up the perfect proposal," Jemilla said. "But if you both want the same thing together, then it doesn’t matter at all."

"That’s what marriage is about, really," Zazzalil added, looking more thoughtful. "You can’t account for everything. Rogue proposals, surprise guests, whatever. You just can’t."

Jemilla smiled at her with such tenderness Emily’s stomach tightened with yearning at the depth of the love between them. The one she had with Jasmine was no more fickle than theirs, but to see this plain before her eyes, detached from her own experience, was still just as special as it had been from the moment she had first laid her eyes on them.

"So you…" Zazzalil trailed off, but gave Emily a vague gesture meant to imply the rest. "You were thinking of… ?"

Chip licked her fingers as Emily sighed and buried her face in his brown-ish fur. He was a little dirty, but she was somewhat rugged a girl herself. She wasn’t gallant, nor was she fancy. Big impressive proposals were as out of her reach as all the riches in the world.

"We’ve lived together just on our own for almost two years," she said softly, more to reassure herself. "We love each other, we get on well with each other’s families, we have jobs and pets and… and I think it makes sense? Right?"

Jemilla leaned forward and Emily was certain that, had it been safe, she would have hugged her, but the look on her face was almost as reassuring. The world was changing and relationships did not look exactly like they had used to before, but that did not mean everything had to change for the worse. Even in the harshest of situations, love kept blossoming.

"Sweetie, it’d make sense even if you didn’t have half of that," she said. "So you feel ready?"

Emily bit her lip. She had been asking herself the same thing. Feeling ready and being ready seemed like such opposite states and she was stuck in the middle.

"I think? I hope."

"Shit, that’s cute," Zazzalil exclaimed, interrupting. Jemilla frowned at her, but Zazzalil had a way to make her outbursts endearing. "I mean, we met you when you were only a baby…"

"I was fourteen," Emily grumbled under her breath.

"… and you guys weren’t even dating yet, and now you’re gonna get married like. Woah, I feel ancient, that’s amazing though."

Emily hated to be thought of as younger than she was, the erasure of all the growing pains she had endured. Still, Zazzalil meant this kindly and she shrugged, a little awkward.

"Well," Jemilla said, "Invite us to the Zoom engagement party when you’re ready, then."

That night, Jasmine came back from her parents’ in a particularly good mood, telling her all about the new safety measures at the mosque to respect the six feet precaution between every person praying, about the cousins she had seen for the first time in ages since before March, about how her sisters were going to start college online soon and what she thought of that. She had a way of getting excited about every new thing, even when the rest of the world might see it as irrelevant or worse, ill news. Jasmine saw the best in every situation and had a quick wit to enjoy it to the fullest.

"Mommy and daddy say hi, of course." She paused. "Woah, it actually is super clean here. Good job, babe!"

To pass her nerves, Emily had spent the rest of the afternoon scrubbing down the apartment. It was an old habit inherited from her mother, no matter how fiercely she had fought it off at first in her youth. Every once in a while, it couldn’t hurt to clean the home as thoroughly as if her mental state depended on it. Perhaps it did. The cats rubbed up against Jasmine’s legs as she put away a big pile of leftovers either received or stolen from her parents’ home. Ja’far and Sherrezade had made a tradition of seeing the girls well fed through every weekend, but Jasmine often extended the generosity to whatever was edible and appetizing enough for her to snatch outside of the allotted leftover containers Ja’far actually prepared. Ja’far kindly pretended he did not notice and left out her favorite fruit in the bowl on the counter.

Even now that they were living on their own, their lives remained entwined with their parents, a bond for life. Jasmine had lost some of the rashness of her early years and was as close to her parents as ever now that they were no longer in the same home to try and give her some structure. In the same way, Emily adored her mother and father even more now that she knew what it took to upkeep a home of her own. She valued their insight more as she grew older and for that reason, it was to them that she headed next.

"Ya see that, Grandpa?" Her mother cried out towards the backroom where Grandpa Richie was snoozing in his old rocking chair. "It’s my daughter, she’s still alive, wouldn’t ya know it? Go wash your hands, then, and tell your mama why you haven’t visited in three weeks."

Emily internally grumbled as she made her way to the kitchen to wash her hands. Sue was in a fretting mood and even less docile than her usual grump, though this was no surprise, as she had been sick with worry from the moment the pandemic measures had hit their town. With the way things were evolving, Emily wondered if this was just another aspect of this new reality they were bond to get used to, her mother never going back to the somewhat peace they had used to maintain. Regardless, she adored her, for she knew that all anxieties she lashed out came from a place of concern and love. Sometimes, Sue made it hard to remember.

"Mama, I was working," she said calmly. She made to rinse off her hands but her mother gestured for her to rub some more. "There’s a plague going on. People just don’t go to the stores anymore. The warehouse is busier than ever."

"Yeah, well, if you ask me, now’s the time to stop buyin’ so much. Ain’t nobody rollin’ in dough at the moment."

"I’m just the working hands, I don’t make the decisions."

It had been six months since she had last hugged her mother. Prickly and insufferable as she was, Emily still missed that. Sue shoved a bag into her hands as she led the way to the living room.

"Your father’s gonna be home any minute," she said. "Those are new masks, I finished them last week, which you would’ve known if you visited more. Wear ’em."

"I’m wearing them," she retorted, shoving the bag into her backpack. Her mother had a way of making every conversation a game to be won and more often than not, Emily was the loser. "Mom, I wanted to ask you…"

"And would you _please_ tell your brother to stop with the internet? I swear all that boy knows is how to use a tablet or a controller. I thought I raised ya better."

"Yeah, well, we can’t go outside, mom, he’s just doing what he can."

She greeted Grandpa Richie, barely awake from his afternoon nap. Upstairs, she could hear nothing at all, which told her Peter was likely idle at his computer again. She envied him. Another day, she would have climbed up the stairs to join him but for better or for worse, she was in great need of her parents’ advice. She wondered how many times she had thought this in her life.

"Oh, sweetie, what a nice surprise!" She heard her father say from the front door. "Honey, you didn’t tell me Emily was coming."

"I didn’t _know_ she was comin’," Sue replied but Johnny was already in the kitchen washing his hands and did not hear her. "So, what do you need?"

Emily frowned.

"Why couldn’t I just visit for no reason?"

But her father entered the room again, beaming wide.

"So, what can we do for you, sweetheart? Money’s a bit tight at the minute but we’ll always make do for you."

She supposed she had to admit defeat. She even more so than Jasmine had a way to make herself disappear in her own home unless she had a reason to put herself out in the world, even just to visit her loved ones. At least they accepted this about her. Of all the years to shine, this was hers.

"No, no, money’s fine, I…" She took in a big breath. "I’m here for advice."

To her surprise, her mother cackled.

"Oh, mark that in the calendar, Johnny darlin’, our beloved daughter wants our advice. That’s a first. What is it, then?"

"Are things okay?" Her father asked, concerned.

Quickly, Emily waved all fears away. In the state of the world, there was no reason to make them worry more than strictly needed.

"Everything’s fine," she promised. "I just…"

She looked at them. They were still so young, she reflected. Her mother had barely turned forty last spring. She was older now than they were themselves when they had become parents, and they had managed just fine, hadn’t they? Or rather, with great difficulty. Still, if they had taken the hard path and succeeded, there was no reason she would fail on the easy route. Being with Jasmine had been so smooth and easy all the way through so far.

"I think I want to marry Jasmine," she said in a low voice.

This was the first time she had uttered it completely plain and not in half truths like she had with Jemilla and Zazzalil. It felt so right to be saying it out loud she felt warm and fuzzy all over again.

"You have my permission," Sue said.

"Thank you, mama."

They smiled at each other. Somehow, even now, this meant everything.

"You have mine, too," Johnny said.

She frowned.

"I didn’t ask for your permission."

Her father opened his mouth and closed it, then sighed.

"Well, you have it anyways," he said, defeated.

But she was in no mood for a fight with anyone at all and turned to her mother again.

"So you think it’s a good idea?" She asked and clenched her knees nervously.

"Well, don’t let your brother hear you," her father joked. It was a running object of teasing in the family that Peter had used to have a huge crush on Jasmine that his sister had miserably squashed when the girls had started to develop true feelings for one another. "Sweetie, it’s a great idea!"

"Wait, I thought the gays couldn’t marry yet," Grandpa Richie said in his old shaking voice from his chair. It was the end of summer and his legs were covered with a thick knitted blanket Peter and Sue had made together for his last Christmas. "How’re ya gonna marry your lil girlfriend?"

"Dad, you can’t say ’the gays’," Sue hissed, "It’s dehumanizing."

He raised his hands in apology. This was far from the first blunder from any member of the family, but Emily knew they had good intents and she had stopped correcting them. Still, it meant everything when they realized the mistakes between each other and made the effort to correct them. Her coming out had been mostly smooth, but not entirely so. She was lucky anyways.

"No, Grandpa, we _can_ marry, it’s been five years. But… but are we ready and… I don’t know if I know _how_ to be married yet and…" She noticed that she was whining and got herself back in check. "How did you… I mean, how’d you do it?"

She didn’t need to ask how it was that her parents had decided to get married, of course. Her mother would deny to the grave that she had ever made her feel guilty about the dreams she had given up on when becoming a mother. Emily knew her truth anyways and had always felt ashamed of it, even though the years had patched up the wound as neatly as it could be. Often, she had wondered if the two of them would have stuck together if it weren’t for her being born, but she disliked the scenario altogether. Through trials and tribulations, her parents’ marriage was stronger than it had been when she was a child and she was certain that there was something to be learned from them, if the relation had been solid enough to endure it all to this day.

"It’s not easy," her mother said, much kinder than she had been so far. "I won’t lie to ya, cause it just isn’t, not always. But if you know in your heart that you love the person, then you just decide that you’ll stick through the hard times no matter what."

Emily did not think she had known hard times with Jasmine yet. Not to the level her parents had, anyways. But then, she thought of Jasmine’s parents and told herself that some relationships simply sailed more smoothly than others, whether by happenstance or by greater compatibility. Still, the reminder was good advice and she nodded obediently.

"It’s not always as hard as that either," her father said to reassure her. "When you just… you choose to make it work, you just know you’ll get through all the bad crap and it’s easier to compromise when you’re both on the same path. You learn to pick your battles."

"Even though some of y’all pick all of them," Grandpa Richie said, glaring at his daughter.

Back at home, Emily took a long time pondering on what her parents had told her. She trusted them so intimately, no matter how much they had struggled to get along all these years. She knew they only wanted the best for her, and they all agreed that Jasmine was just that. That, she was certain of. She also knew she was conscious of the commitment she would be taking on. She craved it, even. How to get there was another thing.

If either of them had been a boy, of course, then she would have known the right procedure, asking the parents for the hand of the bride, a fancy ring, and then dreams of a suburbs house with a picket fence. If she dared to suggest such a thing in Jasmine’s presence, though, she would be on the receiving end of a hurricane unfurling about antiquated, bigoted traditions and women’s rights and everything that made her adore her fighter of a girlfriend. Because she could not mention these things to her, she had to figure this out on her own. It was daunting. Emily was better suited to follow her bold and brave girlfriend than to lead her.

A ring was a good start. Jasmine, while not overly superficial, owned some jewelry and borrowing one of her rings (seldom worn lest she noticed its absence) for a size sample was simple enough. It took some saving up to afford something nice, though not so fancy that she would ruin her finances forever. Jasmine deserved a pretty ring around her finger, the nicest she could get her. Carrying it around turned out to be a joy she had not anticipated, a constant reminder of the love she bore for Jasmine. She kept it on her person at all times, as she feared that her girlfriend might find it laying around before she found the words to ask her the big question. She remembered then, somehow, that Jasmine’s mother was the greatest writer of all times.

"Salam, my dear girl, make yourself comfortable," Ja’far told her with a kind smile that always reached his eyes, brightening up his entire face so that even in the first months when he had masked up whenever they’d met him, they could still know of his smiling.

"You’ve arrived at the right time," Sherrezade told her as Emily washed her hands. "Ja’far’s just made baklava, I’ll make a pot of tea, go sit and relax, dearie."

Sometimes, Emily wondered how much she would appreciate the pair of doting parents they were if she hadn’t grown up raised by Sue Blim. Even their own daughter could be less than grateful of their attentions when she was in a poor mood. Ja’far sat with her at the kitchen table and offered her the first bite of the delicious sweet pastry. Assuredly, he said, the other girls would soon come down after their afternoon classes on their computers and she should have her share now that she still could.

"There we go, fresh jasmine tea," Sherrezade said, setting down glasses for everyone as she joined them. "What a blessing to see you, sweetheart."

"Thank you, ma’am," she said, smiling.

One day, she might grow out of her need for honorifics. Or she might not, despite their occasional suggestions to call them by their first names if she wanted.

"Thank you, love," Ja’far said as Sherrezade poured him tea and she kissed the top of his head.

One of the cats jumped on the table, hungry from the sweet scent, and Sherrezade pulled him to her lap instead to pet him gently as they ate in silence while Emily made sense of her thoughts. She didn’t know whether the treat helped or distracted her from them. Finally, she gulped down the last bite and looked up at them.

"I’m gonna ask Jasmine to marry me," she said, faking a confidence she did not feel.

To her surprise, neither of them showed any. They nodded with knowing smiles. Ja’far blew on his tea and drank a tentative sip.

"I love her and I think I treat her right and…" If even the mere mention of it sent her into mumbling, she had no idea how it was that she intended to ask Jasmine. She really did not know. "And so I have to ask her…"

"If you’re asking for our blessing, you have always had it," Ja’far said. "Though you don’t need it."

Emily did not know if this was what she was asking. Sometimes she felt like she had to ask everybody for permission to live how she wanted, though more often she felt like she never needed to ask a soul for anything at all. In this moment, she thought she needed their guidance more than their permission.

"No," she said hastily, but corrected herself. "I mean, thank you, I’m grateful, but what I meant…" She sighed. "I don’t know how. To ask her, that is."

She turned to Sherrezade, the writer, the poet, the singer, but Sherrezade was looking at Ja’far with the softest smile. It kept surprising Emily how tender the pair was with one another. This was what she tried to emulate, though Jasmine had more than a tough mind of her own and was not to be softened so.

"Well, I believe that was you," Sherrezade told her husband. "I have no experience proposing."

He huffed.

"I’m certain you must have written that once or twice as well in your stories," he replied, kindly meant. "And you can’t say I was eloquent…"

"I can and I am," Sherrezade said and held his hand. She looked at Emily again and smiled. "He asked me what I would say if he asked me for my hand. So naturally, I said yes."

Emily tried to picture herself asking this question to Jasmine, but it didn’t feel exactly right. She didn’t want to do this halfway, but she didn’t know how to do it in a way that felt authentic to herself and to her relationship.

"And then our third date went on as normal and we got married the next month."

Her mouth dropped open. She had always thought of Jasmine’s parents as the ones who had everything together, the ones who knew where they were heading and how. She had admired that about them.

"B-But… On the third date?! That’s so soon!"

They held hands and looked at each other with great fondness, as if this had all happened a thousand years ago.

"Well, when you know, you know and there’s no shame in asking."

They fleshed out the story a little bit, giving her some details of how rushed their meeting had been, how instantly and perfectly they had clicked. If she felt like this for Jasmine, and they thought that she did, then she ought to take the plunge head on and let the heart speak for itself. She didn’t know whether it made complete sense or none at all that Jasmine’s parents, in all regards so prudent, would advise her to jump right into marriage if it felt right, when her own parents whose relation had been more than shaky over the years would encourage her to pause and consider the depth of the commitment she wanted to take on.

"Alright, alright," she said, slapping her lap as she stood abruptly. "Thank you very much for the advice."

"Of course," Ja’far said. He was already starting to pack up half of what was left of the baklava plate for her to take home. "Any time at all, always. Give our love to the princess, of course."

"Will do," she nodded and took the package from him.

"And let her do a few chores once in a while, alright?" Sherrezade said, smiling teasingly.

Emily laughed.

"No promises."

She felt oddly breezy during the drive back home. Tonight, she thought. If she kept this energy, the surge of courage Jasmine’s parents had instilled in her, then she would dare to ask it tonight. Already she was formulating the proposal in her mind, casual but deeply meant, a mirror to the entire relationship. At home, she dropped her mask into the basket they kept by the entrance and washed her hands in the kitchen. The cat stared at her from the counter, as if judging any word that would come out of her mouth the moment she tried to have the talk. Jasmine was on the Switch again, so deeply focused on the little screen she startled almost violently when Emily tapped her shoulder from behind.

"Open your mouth," she told her.

Jasmine leaned back and opened her mouth to a chunk of Ja’far’s baklava she liked so much. Grinning, she munched on it and rubbed her mouth clean with the back of her mouth as Emily ate the other half of the diamond shaped snack and sat with her.

"You got this from daddy?" She asked, licking a taste she knew by heart from her lips. "Did you go and visit them?"

"Uh huh," Emily nodded, but gave no more explanation. The ring box almost burned her through her cargos, so anxious she felt, but she plastered a smile on her face to try and keep up appearances. This felt right, but painfully so if she had to wait for it a moment more. She gestured at the console. "So, what did you do today?"

Jasmine bit her lip as if she had been dreading the question. This quiet reaction was as different as could be from every other night Emily had come home and it made her anxiety a little worse. Jasmine tapped her fingers against the controllers nervously before passing it to her, shoving it into her hands as if she wanted nothing to do with it all of a sudden.

"I’ve upgraded your Dragonborn’s stuff," she muttered. "I think you’ll like it." Emily frowned, sensing a change in the mood she did not understand, but Jasmine insisted. "Look at it, okay?"

This was strange, but it wasn’t, not when Jasmine had used and abused the Switch so much since buying it and always, always shared her progress with her. She opened the inventory. New, better enchantments on her Glass Armor, a new dagger to match the Blade of Woe she refused to get rid of, an insane amount of gold Jasmine must have taken hours to make and… Her eyes snapped up to meet her girlfriend’s.

"Is that an Amulet of Mara?" She blurted out.

Of all the items in the game, this one alone unlocked the option to propose to another character. Emily and Jasmine had long ago made the pesky jealous agreement to never get married within a game, but when Jasmine sank to her knees in front of her and fiddled with her pocket to pry a tiny box out of it, there was nothing virtual about it. The ring, simple and gold and far too pretty for someone like Emily, was very real and tangible between Jasmine’s fingers.

"Baby, please marry me forever."

Tears began to well up in her eyes, love overflowing in a gross liquid mess and she pulled Jasmine to her to press a kiss at her lips, desperate to feel her as close as could be. She held her tight and hoped never to have to let go, for she could live forever in her embrace. After a long moment of kisses, Jasmine parted from her briefly enough just to mutter a question.

"Just so we’re clear, that’s a yes?"

Emily wanted to laugh and cry both at once − and she did. She nodded, a little feverish. With some difficulty, she reached into her pocket to slide out the box she had bought with all the hard earned cash she had been able to splurge.

"Yes. It’s a yes. I was gonna ask you," she said and her voice came out squeaky from the emotion and made Jasmine snort. She showed her the ring and adored the way Jasmine’s eyes widened with excitement and surprise. "But you do everything better than me."

Between kisses, they managed to slip the rings onto each other’s finger. She loved the cold sensation of metal against her skin, especially when she felt just the same on Jasmine’s hand as they clasped together. It felt right.

"I love you," she whispered softly. "Honey, I love being in love with you."

"And I love you," Jasmine replied, and Emily kissed such pretty words from her lips.

Later, they would tell everyone about this. Jemilla and Zazzalil would laugh at them, for sure. Their parents would be thrilled and she was certain they would receive more congratulations by other various members of their respective families they hardly even knew. Everyone these days clung onto whatever piece of good news they could get. This one, though, belonged to them first and foremost and for the rest of the day, Emily intended to do the selfish thing and enjoy the evening just with her fiancée. They could only have the one first night of the rest of their lives once.


End file.
